The U.S. Custom Harvesters Hall of Fame

INDUCTEES OF USCHI HALL OF FAME

Lonnie & Gail Pruett - (2014)

Pruett family marks 59 years of harvesting - and still counting

When 10-year-old Lonnie Pruett noticed the harvest crew was assembling the combine headers backward, his father, Lynn, decided it was time to put Lonnie on a combine. That was when Lonnie, of Snyder, Okla., began his career as a custom harvester.

He remembers those early years of sleeping under the stars, bathing in nearby stock tanks or ponds, and combines with no cabs. It was a life he loved and one that has taken him through a career that has spanned 59 years. After he married Gail Cobb, the daughter of another custom harvester, they continued the family of custom harvesters with daughter Lori and son Brent.

Lori wrote in her parents’ Hall of Fame introduction that taking the family on harvest was not the only way the Pruetts kept the business in the family. In the late '40s, Lynn began cutting wheat for Paul Williams. More than 50 years later, Lonnie and son Brent, who is now a business partner with his dad, are still cutting those same fields for Paul’s son Don. Lonnie's grandson Spencer is already becoming a fourth-generation combine driver and told grandma Gail that he wants to join the family business one day.

Lonnie has seen many family tragedies - losing three brothers and a nephew - but Lori writes that by learning to deal with adversity early on, Lonnie has become a survivor.

"As a businessman, he has survived overwatered crops, droughts and $5 diesel," she wrote.

When Gail learned that they were nominated to join the USCHI Hall of Fame, she didn't tell Lonnie, wanting to surprise him at the convention. She said watching his face when their names were announced was something special.

"He was very proud," she said.

USCHI- Lonnie Pruett from Conrad Weaver on Vimeo.